Hi all,
 
About two months ago, I brought home a beautiful 6 mo. old boy
("The White One").  He had been neutered at 4 mo. and was home-bred
(i.e., not MF).  He is absolutely wonderful with people, but does not
like the rest of my ferret family :(
 
I got Scooter at 6 mo. about 3 years ago.  She was abused and
came to me very skittish and afraid.  Now she is just a doll and
very trusting of everyone (except the white one).  I added Nina
to my family at 3.5 years old about 4 mo after Scooter - they got
along fine.  About a year later, I added Tavi Bear, a 1.5 year old
male.  They all got along fabulously.  They are all Marshall Farms
ferrets and were no way related, to the best of my knowledge, beforehand.
 
So, I bring home the white one - named him Bailey Nutmeg.  I knew
he might be a bit hard to handle with all those hormones racing
through him.  I figured that he probably would not get along with
the other male right away.  But I figured the females would pose
no threat.
 
Well, Bailey hates all my other ferrets, but he's great with us.  Its
now been 4 mo. since he's been neutered - and I figure all those hormones
should be gone now.  I need to get them together though, because I don't
have the space to keep them seperate.  This is what happens.  Bailey attacks
any ferret that dare come near him when he is in any sort of enclosed
space (cage, box, other - like he's protecting it or something) and
if he's sleeping, he will wake up out of a dead sleep to attack
whatever ferret dare "sniff" at him while he sleeps.  Now my females
have never fought, so they get beaten up when he takes after them.
Scooter just runs and hides in fear, and of course the Bailey chases
him.
 
I realize there may be some dominance battles, but I don't see any
bonding developing at all, just Bailey attacking anyone who gets near
him.
 
Any suggestions would be *greatly* appreciated!!!
 
Thanks!
 
Chris.
[Posted in FML issue 1047]